Seedling Jewellery Collection

Seedling Jewellery is a distinctive collaboration between Belén F-Vega from TO BE continued and artist Emma Cassi. This unique collection combines the embroidery of seeds and recycled pieces from vintage jewellery, intricately woven into fine silk dyed with organic colours. The collection presents a rare blend of Edwardian and ethnic aesthetics. Emma's meticulous embroidery, combined with Belén's treasures, sourced during her extensive travels and explorations of antique shops and flea markets, results in a truly special collection. Each piece of jewellery has been crafted to resemble ritualistic objects, symbolically connecting users to the red Spanish soil.

Emma Cassi uses red Spanish mud to dye the silk used in creating the jewellery. The textile forms the core of each piece, providing both shape and stability, reminiscent of her previous work with antique lace in her jewellery line. (Selvedge 34 May/June 2010) The initial technique involves smocking the silk to ensure it is durable enough to support chains or vintage gold pieces, sometimes requiring up to two metres of fabric for a single necklace.

The idea of using seeds as sequins aligns perfectly with the project's overarching theme: connecting with the earth. These bijoux talismans, dyed with mud or leaves and embroidered with seeds, represent the seeds of awareness—a utopian aim of the collection. This concept is illustrated in photographs featuring a copper vintage alembic, a tool traditionally used in alchemy.

This collection is a materialisation of Emma's years of studying herbalism, particularly under the principles of the evolutionary school taught by Sajah Popham. The Seedling collection is described as an alchemical encounter, inspired by the sun and the distinctive scent of Cistus ladaniferus, a plant found in the hills surrounding Madrid.

Sajah Popham's teachings reflect the spiritual aspect of this jewellery collection: "The spiritual seed of the plant is sown in your heart, and you carry the wholeness of its divine medicine, its living language, inside you. An inner forest begins to grow." This philosophy underpins the essence of the Seedling jewellery collection, making it a unique fusion of art, nature, and spirituality.

As part of Selvedge issue 119's Enter a Prize Draw, Emma Cassi will be offering a handmade necklace, meticulously crafted from a piece of red lace from the 1950s found in France and sequins from a vintage textile fair in Hammersmith, London. The necklace ties with a vintage ribbon from Madrid’s iconic Rastro flea market, with hand-stitched “N” initials. Finally, Cassi adds a touch of surprise with hand-stitched pumpkin seeds collected from her garden in Burgundy. 

Images courtesy of Emma Cassi & Belén F-Vega

Find out more and enter the prize draw:
www.selvedge.org/collections/competitions

Find out more about Emma Cassi:
emmacassi.com

Find out more about Belén F-Vega:
www.tobecontinued.com.es